


Hard to Breathe

by sirina77



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Danny gets hurt, F/M, Near Death Experiences, Secrets Revealed, but with heavier consequences, grayghost, honestly not sure where this is going to go, ignoring Phantom Planet, wanted to take a shot at writing something for this ship, will add more tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21519478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirina77/pseuds/sirina77
Summary: Valerie finally manages to seriously wound Phantom! Finally!So... why doesn't it feel like a victory?
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Valerie Gray
Comments: 19
Kudos: 129





	1. When it rains...

A crack of thunder rumbled through the school, drawing many student’s attention away from their teachers, their eyes locking on the windows of their classrooms. It had been raining on and off all day long, lightly dampening heads that ran between buildings to get to class. As the rumbling sound died however, the rain began to race towards the earth, hitting the walls and glass with a furry. The din of drops pouring down brought a hush around the school. 

Valerie rolled her eyes. She would have thought that a school that was so used to ghost attacks wouldn’t even bat an eye at something as trivial as a storm. It took only a moment or two for Mr. Lancer to return to his lecture, attempting to draw attention back onto himself. Valerie had been taking notes dutifully. The end of year exams were coming up in a few days and she was determined to do better than just pass them. Obviously, acing the exams was far from realistic, but if she really tried she figured she could manage a B, maybe a B+ in a few classes. She had to try. 

She’d even taken an hour off her patrols at night to try and devote more time to studying. A feat that was becoming more and more difficult every night, as a slew of ghost attacks had been setting her alarms off every few hours. At first she’d begrudgingly decided to just let Phantom handle them. She didn’t trust the guy, but over the last few months she had to admit he was doing at least as much as she was to try and deal with rampaging ghosts. Or at least he had been. Of course, right when she needed to take time to focus on her schoolwork that damn spector was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t entirely gone, showing up here and there a few times this week, but he also wasn’t dealing with the usual creeps that lurked around town. She wondered if that punk was doing this on purpose. Letting the ghosts run free just to spite her. The idea didn’t really add up with what little she knew about him though. As of late, she had been fiddling with the idea that Phantom considered Amity Park to be his own, personal haunting grounds. Maybe the reason he was fighting all these ghosts was because he considered the town his territory. The idea of a ghost thinking it owned a whole town was unsettling to say the least, but at least it meant the town was more or less protected from the ghosts that intended harm. And yet, here he was, letting all these monsters run wild, only showing up to take care of the really dangerous ones and even then, flying off the instant they were sucked up into that stolen thermos he had. It didn’t make sense. 

Thunder crashed again. She blinked, realizing that she’d been lost in thought and hadn’t been listening again. Damnit! She glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes had passed and the bell was about to ring. So much for taking better notes. She began to pack away her things, dreading the next few hours she had to spend in that ridiculous burger mascot suit. The bell rang and Valerie made her way to her locker, passing by Fenton and his friends along the way. She tried to ignore them.

It hadn’t been easy, trying to set aside her feelings for Danny, but she liked to think it was getting easier. While she still had to see him every day at school, she’d cut interactions with him out entirely. She’d started to become numb to it all now. Not the most pleasant feeling, but at least it was better than the heartache she had been dealing with. Only a whisper of what had been, remained. 

She gathered her books from her locker and slung her bag over her shoulder. By the time she trudged down the stairs and made it through the crowded hall she’d all but forgotten about the rain. 

“Oh, hell.” she mumbled. She could always go back into the school, hide and transform into her huntress suit, but her backpack would still get drenched. Of course, walking to the Nasty Burger wasn’t really an option either. 

“You want a lift?” Valerie looked over her shoulder to see Danny, Tucker and Sam, the latter of which holding a car key. “There’s plenty of room in my car.” the goth said, sounding surprisingly genuine. 

“Thanks, but I can manage.” Val said, pulling a light coat out of her bag and attempting to drape it over herself and the pack. 

“Come on, Val. It’s not like we’re gonna bite.” Tucker chimed in. “Besides, you get five feet down the road in this weather and you’ll be soaked to the bone.” He had a point, the rain wasn’t letting up. Her eyes flicked to Danny, who was leering at what had to be a very interesting spec on the ground. He stood behind Tucker and Sam, hands stuffed into his pockets, as if he wasn’t even paying attention. Then he glanced up, meeting her eyes for just a moment, before quickly looking back at the floor. Her chest tightened and she re-adjusted her bag. 

“I’ll manage.”

She strode out the door and within minutes her shoes and hair were drowned in the storm. She wanted to scream. She was so close to the end of the school year. So close to finally getting a break and it seemed like the universe wanted nothing more than to bombard her with as many stresses as possible. As the wind picked up and thunder rumbled overhead, a beeping sound caught her attention. She glanced at her watch. A ghost had entered her sensors’ range. 

“You have  _ got  _ to be kidding me.” she groaned, glaring at the clouds overhead. “Anything else you’d like to throw at me?” The sky responded with more rolling thunder. A crack of lightning lit up the dark clouds overhead and Valerie’s eyes widened. The shadow of a dragon could be seen flying through the clouds, illuminated by the flashes of light. She watched as the creature broke out of the clouds and swept low over the town. Her watch beeped. No doubt  _ that  _ was the ghost it had picked up earlier. She vaguely recalled seeing a ghost dragon last year at the mall. This had to be the same one. 

For a moment, she considered letting Phantom handle this one. She was already going to be late to work because of the storm. But something in her hummed with excitement at the sight of the specter. After the week she’d had, the idea of battling an actual dragon sounded like the perfect way to blow off some steam. Besides, with Phantom’s sketchy appearances lately it was foolish of her to assume he’d take care of anything. She’d gotten too used to relying on the local ghost boy. If she wanted to make sure the town was defended she needed to suit up and get to work.

Valerie raced into an alleyway, dropped her bag into an empty trash can and mentally reached out to her suit. Instantly the material phased onto her skin, seeming to appear from out of nowhere. Dry warmth spread through her, quickly erasing the effects of the downpour on her clothes. She called up her glider and within seconds she was racing through the air in the direction the ghost dragon had gone. 

The screen of her viser displayed a map of the city and led her to where the ghost energy was coming from. She thought it odd, the dragon wasn’t attacking anyone or tearing up buildings. It just kept flying, occasionally swooping down close to a crowd, but then quickly rising back up into the air. Was the thing just trying to startle the civilians? If so, it was doing a lackluster job compared to most ghosts. Valerie kept tailing the beast, drawing ever closer to her target. She rounded a corner and watched as the dragon landed on a rooftop, just across the street. The ghost lowered it’s head and spoke, though Val was too far away to hear what it was saying over the sound of rain hitting her helm. She ducked down behind a vent on her own rooftop and summoned one of her wrist canons. All she needed was one good shot and this would be over in plenty of time for her to make it back to her job. The canon hummed as she took aim. A flash of lightning split the sky overhead. Thunder roared from somewhere behind her. The dragon began to move, as if it was turning towards her. Valerie fired.

She watched as the condensed, purple energy bolted through the air. The dragon’s eye barely had time to lock onto the blast before it- moved? The massive, glowing, blue shape of the dragon jolted to the left unnaturally. The shot ripped through the edge of one of the wings, missing it’s mark. Valerie glared. What the hell was that? Ghost or not, that monster couldn’t have possibly moved like that. It couldn’t have-

The dragon let out a roar of pain and stumbled back. It’s eyes locked on Valerie, glowing a murderous red. She cursed, raising her canon to prepare another shot. Then she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Right where the dragon had been standing was a figure, clad in black, floating above the roof. His wide, green eyes fixed onto her and her blood ran cold. 

Phantom.

Before she could react the dragon reared back and shot a stream of ghostly fire at Valerie. She instinctively ducked down, summoning an ecto-shield at the last moment. The fire stopped. 

“ -don’t hurt her.” 

She peered out from behind the now partially melted vent. Phantom was floating at eye level in front of the dragon. His back was turned to her, one hand held out towards the dragon, the other hidden from view. 

“Please… don’t-” Something was off in his voice. It sounded strained. 

The dragon stared at him, a look of horror on it’s long face. Only then did Valerie notice the green splotch on Phantom’s back. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. The dragon hadn’t moved out of the way. It had been pushed. Phantom had pushed the ghost out of the way of the blast. He had to have been the one the dragon was talking to. He’d been standing in front of it, just out of view. They likely heard the canon charging and… The shot had gone clean through the wing. He wouldn’t have even seen it coming. 

Valerie had shot Phantom. A real, proper shot, intended to take down a ghost five times his size. Ectoplasm was oozing down his back, mixing with the rain and falling to the ground below. He and the dragon appeared to be talking, though the thunder drowned out their words. Valerie watched, too shocked to think of what she should do. The dragon flicked it’s red eyes back to her, growled, then turned and shot into the clouds and out of view. Once the beast was gone, Phantom turned in the air and met Valerie’s gaze. A green, oozing hole in his chest could be clearly seen against the black of his suit. A nauseous feeling twisted in Valerie’s gut. The blast had gone right through him. 

His natural glow seemed to flicker for a moment. A weariness fell over his features like a shadow and he began to float downwards, slowly at first, then falling like a rock to the ground. Valerie ran over to the edge of the roof and saw him hover for a moment before stumbling onto the pavement. A green puddle was forming beneath him. He pushed himself onto his knees, his hands shaking. Valerie watched him struggle to his feet and shamble towards a building, leaving a trail of green goo in his wake, all the while she debated what to do. It would be so easy to just leave him like this. She could go to her job, go home, study and let Phantom work this out on his own, if he could… She could just as easily glide down and finish the menace off, once and for all. One less ghost to worry about. But… the idea that had seemed so common just a few months ago, now sounded oddly alien and cruel to her. There was another option, she thought. She’d just shot the guy in the back. Even if he was just some teritorial ghost kid, it felt sickening to just leave him to suffer like this. He was a monster, a dead thing that terrorized her town… and yet she felt guilty, watching him stumble along down there. 

She watched as he collapsed against the wall of an old building, pain etched onto his face. He flickered in and out of sight then phased through the brick wall. The rain was already washing the trail of ectoplasm down the drains, as if none of this had even happened. Valerie stood, thunder crashing overhead. Her decision was made. She stepped back, summoned her glider and flew off of the roof.


	2. Storage Room of Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- multiple points of view in this one!

Danny phased through the wall and collapsed onto the cement floor with a thud. He cried out, searing white pain radiated through his torso. He could feel himself slipping, fading slightly. His eyelids were heavy and he felt weak. The burning, cutting pain came in waves. Each one, bringing a dark shadow around the edges of his vision. He couldn’t stop shaking. His mind raced in circles, trying to think of how to stop the bleeding, throbbing as the waves hit harder and harder each time and desperately trying to hang onto that cold center that kept him in his ghost form. As long as he stayed in his ghost form he could heal. Or… at least that’s how it usually worked. Until now, he’d never had to deal with something this… bad before. 

Another wave of pain pulsed through his body. A twinge in the back of his throat caused him to cough, hacking up more green goo. He forced himself to open his eyes and look down. Ectoplasm wasn’t exactly the same as blood, but he knew there was enough of it pooling around him to be a bad sign. Carefully, he pulled his hand away from the wound on his chest. He hissed. A golf ball sized hole ripped through his suit, just below where his heart would be in his human form. 

He tore his eyes away from the bleeding wound and tried to take in his surroundings. It looked like an old storage room. Metal shelves lined the walls, holding filing boxes that were covered in a hefty amount of dust. He couldn’t see a door from where he lay, but through one of the shelves he could see a red EXIT sign high on a wall around a corner. He wasn’t likely to be found here, he thought. Whether or not that was a good thing, was still unclear. 

The gravity of the situation was becoming more and more clear with each exhausted breath and burning pulse. Normally Tucker and Sam would have been watching from afar in case Danny needed a hand or something went wrong. But when his ghost sense had gone off earlier and he saw that it was just Dora, he told them that he’d catch up later. His cell phone was nestled in the pocket of his jeans, which he couldn’t get to unless he morphed. Calling for a rescue was out of the question. If he morphed the wounds would transfer over to his human form, likely punching through his left lung and shattering his ribs. He’d either pass out from blood loss in an instant or suffocate before he could even pull the damn phone out. 

Another wave. The black borders around his vision were getting darker, closing in on him. He wasn’t going to last long, just laying there. He placed a hand back over the wound and tried to focus. Slowly, a cold frost began to solidify the fluids under his touch. Gritting his teeth, he managed to freeze over the hole in his chest. The ice crystals were far from comfortable, jabbing into the edges of his flesh, but at least he wasn’t hemorrhaging ectoplasm from there. The use of his powers left him even more drained though and a white ring flickered around his waist. His mind desperately clung to his ghost form and the ring vanished. He could do nothing for the hole in his back. The best he could do now, is try not to breathe. Thankfully in this form oxygen wasn’t required, more of a habit than a need. 

Too weak to move and unable to call for help, Danny stared at the wall opposite him, wondering how long he would be stuck there. He let his mind wander, regularly having to force himself to stay awake and mentally fighting back against his body’s desire to morph and sleep. So long as he didn’t breathe and stayed as still as possible, the waves of pain lessened to manageable ripples. It reminded him of a pulse, though he’d noticed long ago that he lacked a heartbeat in his ghost form. As a general rule, he tried not to think about it too much. As the ice began to melt, he poured small bursts of energy into refreezing the opening. This cycle of actions kept him conscious, though exhaustion was taking its toll with every passing moment. 

His mind wandered, thinking of how long it would take for Tucker and Sam to realize something was wrong. They’d been planning on studying at Sam’s place tonight. He figured it’d be an hour or two before they started looking for him. Depending on whether or not his parents were working on something in the lab, they may or may not notice that he wouldn’t be home before curfew. Ever since Jazz went off to college though, they’d been trying to keep a closer eye on him, so with his luck they’d be waiting for him to come home later that night. 

The sound of rain outside faded and grew again as time passed. The storage room lacked any windows, leaving the space draped in shadow. What little light Danny could see, shone in from under the door. The light dimmed as the minutes ticked by. When it took on an orangish hue he realized it had to be coming from a window beyond the little room. The sun was setting. 

He attempted a sigh, but a sharp pain flared to life in his chest the instant he tried to take a breath. His ‘lung’ wasn’t done healing by a long shot. The feeling of something in his windpipe sent him into a coughing fit, hacking up more green sludge. His eyes watered and he tried to remain still, cutting off his breathing and icing over the wound once more. He couldn’t keep this up forever. He doubted he could keep going like this for more than an hour. His hands were beginning to shake again. 

A metallic click cut through the silence. Danny’s eyes went wide. He tried to turn himself invisible, but all he managed was a slight flickering before he had to stop. Carefully he turned his head, hoping that if he stayed still, whoever it was would grab what they needed and go without looking around. A flashlight shown on the floor and began to move around the room. He closed his eyes as the light fell on him.

“Oh my god.” a hushed voice said. “Phantom?”

Danny cracked an eye open, but the light was still shining in his face. He thought he recognized the voice. Footsteps drew closer and the light moved to illuminate the rest of him. With the light now off of his face, he peered up and caught sight of red, glowing lines. 

“Valer-” the second he took in a breath to speak, the coughing returned. He grit his teeth, waiting for the pain to ebb and trying to focus on staying still. Valerie stepped back. 

“I didn’t think-” she started. “You’ve been here this whole time?”

Danny silently glanced at her. Considering his current state, he didn’t think her question really needed an answer. Valerie stared at him, the light on her helmet dimming slightly. He could only guess what was going through her mind.

“What… Why aren’t you healing? Don’t ghosts’ normally put themselves back together?”

Danny flicked his eyes at her wrist. She followed his gaze. Her brows furrowed and a guilty look settled onto her face. It was the same face she’d had when she rejected Sam’s offer for a ride home earlier. 

“I don’t understand. I’ve used this on ghosts before, they usually start putting themselves back together by now.” her eyes settled back onto Danny. “You’re just made of ectoplasm, right? Why isn’t it reforming?” She stepped closer to get a better look. Danny flinched back, eliciting a surge of pain up his body. His free hand clenched into a fist. Valerie must have noticed, because she froze in place. A few seconds passed and the surge went with it. He relaxed.

“This doesn’t make sense.” she said in a hushed tone. “I mean, there’s a slight destabilizing chemical in the blasters, but it’s never been this effective before.” 

In response Danny, carefully lifted the hand covering his wound. The ice was starting to melt, but thankfully he wasn’t bleeding nearly as much. Valerie gasped at the sight. She stepped forward once more, kneeling down and closing the space between them. He let her. It wasn’t like he could fight back anyways. She stared. Then reached out a hand, only to pull it back. She was horrified. 

“What is this? Why are there- Why do you have organs? Or bones or any tissue at all?” she asked. “Ghosts don’t have bodies. Ghosts don’t-” She tore her eyes off of the gaping, green hole and locked onto Danny’s. “What are you?” 

He opened his mouth, but managed to stop himself before taking a breath. He didn’t even know what he would say. At one time he would have told her everything if she’d just asked. Now though… Well at least she wasn’t pointing a gun in his face and threatening to ‘end him once and for all’. Honestly he was surprised that she seemed to be concerned for his well being at all. 

“Why can’t you talk?” she probed, turning her attention back to the wound. Her fingertips, gingerly grazed the edge of his suit, moving curiously where the blast had burned through. She leaned forward, peering over his side. “It went clean through.” she said, almost in awe. She pulled back, running her fingers lightly over his side. “If you were alive it would have... “ she sighed. “You shouldn’t even have lungs, much less need them.” she was getting frustrated. She stood and began to pace, her mind probably racing, trying to make sense of what her eyes were seeing and the information she’d learned over the years hunting ghosts. 

Danny watched her, wishing he could say something, anything to ease the tension in the room, but not daring to take a breath. His throat was starting to get sore from the violent coughing fits. Vaguely he could hear Valerie mumbling under her breath as she paced. His eyelids were growing heavy again, now that the shock of being found was wearing off. Steady, rhythmic footsteps sounded and he let his eyes slip closed for just a moment. A white ring flickered around his waist and his eyes shot open. 

“No.” he hissed, mentally clinging back onto the icy center he’d very nearly let go of. The ring vanished and the twinge in the back of his throat returned. 

“What the hell?” Valerie asked, watching him wretch up ectoplasm. “Jeez. You’re really not ok, are you?” 

Danny glared up at her, though his eyes looked tired and weren’t glowing nearly as brightly as they usually did. Valerie sighed. 

“Look it’s not like I intended to shoot you ok? I was aiming for the dragon.” 

His glare didn’t falter. 

“Oh what? You’re friends with other ghosts now? Last time I checked you were fighting just as many of them as I was.” She groaned. “I had a feeling something was going on. You stopped showing up as often.”

Danny lifted he free hand a gestured back at Valerie, wincing at the movement. 

“Me? What about me?” She shot back. He didn’t answer. “What, just because I need to take time to handle other things, that makes you feel obligated to let ghosts roam free? News flash, Phantom, I’ve got a life and I have to deal with school and work. You’re dead.”

“Cnt hv days to mself?” he hissed, gritting his teeth. 

“To do what? Float around in a corner somewhere? Steal from a jewelry store? Oh, or maybe you want to kidnap the mayor again, huh?” 

“Nt my fault.”

“Like hell it isn’t. There’s video footage and photos of you being a nuisance and endangering lives. Ever since you showed up in this town we’ve had to deal with all kinds of ghost related crap. I don’t know if you brought them here, or they just followed you out of the Ghost Zone, but I’d never even seen a ghost before you showed up in my life. Now look at me. Look at this town. Ghosts have ruined everything. They’ve hurt people. And you expect me to ignore a big, dangerous looking ghost, just because it’s one of your spooky little friends? I don’t think so.”

Silence hung in the air between them, Valerie towering over Danny’s prone body. Danny was the first to break eye contact. 

“Srry.” he mumbled.

“What?” 

“M srry.” 

She huffed. “And an apology from you is supposed to make everything in the last two years all better?”

Danny shrugged with his right shoulder. “Ts all I’ve gt.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t have time for this. Besides, you’re a ghost, it’s not like you’re gonna die twice. Best case scenario, I get you out of the picture for at least a little while.” She turned and started walking towards the door. 

“Valerie, wai-” Danny started, cut off by the coughing again. 

She hesitated. 

He pulled one arm under himself and struggled to push himself up onto his elbow. Sharp jabs of pain bolted out from his side. The dark borders flared up around his vision, but he didn’t stop. He managed to pull his knees up under himself and sat up, reaching out to the ghost hunter. 

“Please.” he coughed. “Don’t... leave me... here.”

\---

She stared at him. Ectoplasm caked his front, sides and the parts of his hair that had been laying against the cold cement floor. His tired eyes were desperate and while one hand held his side, the other swayed slightly in the air, almost too heavy for him to hold aloft. He was weak. Weaker than she’d ever seen him before. Guilt stabbed at her heart at the thought of walking away. As angry as she was and as much as she wanted to rationalize leaving her enemy to his fate, she couldn’t bring herself to abandon someone who clearly needed help. Ghost or not, he was clearly hurt. 

His hand fell and his body began to sway slightly. 

“Woah.” She rushed forward and caught his good shoulder, just as he’d been about to fall forward. He hissed as his body twisted. At least he hadn’t crashed, head first into the floor though. 

“Ok, look.” she said, lifting his chin so that he could look her in the eye. “I’ll get you out of here, take you wherever you need to go, but in return you owe me.”

“Owe you?” he rasped. 

“I’m sure I can figure something out. For now, don’t worry about it.” She sighed. “Where do you need to go?”

His head lolled slightly, though he was clearly trying to remain upright. “Nowhere to go.”

“You don’t have a haunt or a home or anything? What about the Ghost Zone?”

“No.”

“Well then what do you want me to do? I’m skilled at hunting ghosts, not patching them up.”

“Just-” he reached out a hand and grasped her arm weakly. “Stay.”

She stared at him. There was something genuine in the simple request. Something she couldn’t shake off. 

“Fine. But hang on one sec, alright?” she leaned him against a shelf and got back to her feet. She brusquely made her way around the corner to the door, let her helmet dematerialize and fished out her phone. It didn’t take too much effort to convince her dad that she was staying at a friend’s house for a late night study sleep over. He seemed skeptical. However, when she told him she was staying at Sam Manson’s place he agreed and wished her goodnight. It had been the first name to come to mind, and probably the only girl her dad knew of who hadn’t dropped her when she went broke. 

“Shit.” Quickly she dialed Sam’s number. 

“What do  _ you  _ want?” Sam answered. 

“Nice to talk to you too.” Val spat back. “Listen, I’ve got some stuff I gotta get done tonight and I told my dad I was staying at your place. Mind covering for me?”

Sam didn’t answer. 

“Hello-”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean? I’m asking you to cover for me. I’ll make it up to you, I promise, I just-”

“No. What are you doing _ right now _ ?” The demanding tone caught Val off guard. 

“ _ That’s _ none of your business.” she sighed. “Come on it’d really be helping me out, ok?”

Silence. 

“Look if you’re not going to-”

“If he calls I’ll tell him you’re here.” Sam hissed, then immediately hung up. 

Valerie looked at her phone, perplexed by the goth girl’s attitude. She shrugged. At least she had a cover story for her dad. She made her way back around the corner to find another white ring flickering around the ghost boy’s waist. His face was strained. After a moment the rings faded and he relaxed slightly. He looked like he’d just run a marathon. 

“What’s with the ring thing?” she asked. “Never seen you use a power like that before.”

“Not a power.” he rasped. 

“Oh? Then what is it?” she asked, walking over to a shelf and peering into one of the boxes. Nothing but papers.

“Secret.” he coughed, spewing up more green gunk. “Can’t keep talking.”

Valerie quirked an eyebrow. “Alright then.” She reached into the box and grabbed a few sheets of paper. One side was filled top to bottom with numbers and charts, but the backs were all blank. She lifted the lids of a few smaller boxes and eventually found some cheap old pens and half of a clipboard. “Can you write?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. 

Danny’s brows rose. Then he nodded slightly, a hint of realization settling on his features. 

Satisfied, Valerie set the paper and pens down on a nearby shelf. 

“Since it looks like we’re gonna be here awhile, let me see if I can find a few more things.” She strode out of the room and into the main area of the office building. By now the sun had set and the whole building was dark. She turned her helmet light on and looked around. It didn’t take her long to find the janitor’s closet. Most of the supplies had been taken when the previous owners left, but a few rags, towels and some mostly empty bottles of cleaning fluid still sat on shelves. A bucket sat in a rust covered sink. She tried the faucet and was rewarded with a steady stream of water for all of three seconds, before it trickled and then stopped. She grabbed the towels, cloths, bucket and a bottle of ammonia and made her way back. 

“Ok. First thing’s first, let’s get you cleaned up.” she said, setting her newfound supplies down a few feet away from where Danny sat. She dunked a tattered rag in the water and knelt down next to the ghost boy. She held out her hand and he sluggishly set one of his in her palm. He was icy cold to the touch, but she hadn’t really expected warmth from a dead man. Thankfully ectoplasm took forever to dry and she was able to get most of it off his suit without having to scrub too hard. First one hand, then his arm, then the other hand. After that she busied herself with the side that had been lying against the ground. She rinsed the rag a few times in the water and eventually the only part of him left to clean was the wound itself. Her eyes met his. 

“I only know some first aid for humans.” she said. “Not really sure if this will even help.” 

He clenched his fists and turned his head, giving her a silent go-ahead. 

Ever so gently, she dabbed at the edge of the cavity. His muscles tensed, but she kept going. Bit by bit she cleared away the green slime, revealing the extent of the tissue damage underneath. The suit was singed and the skin underneath looked more melted than torn. She cleaned around the burned outline, trying not to stray too close to the center. Once she was satisfied with his chest, she guided him forward and set to work doing the same on his back. His skin was significantly more sensitive here. She tried to move quickly, but at one point the rag caught on something solid at the edge of the wound and tugged. Danny screamed and arched his back reflexively. 

“Sorry sorry sorry.” Valerie repeated, snatching the rag away. She wiped the area a few more times then tossed the now green cloth aside. Carefully she looked over the wound at his back. At the edge of the burned skin, a jagged, white shape just barely stuck out from the greenish flesh. The sight nearly made her wretch. “Ugh. Since when do ghosts have bones?” 

She got to her feet and fetched the rest of the rags and one of the towels. 

“Ok. I’m gonna put these on either side of the- eh… hole,” she said, holding up the rags, “then tie this around your chest so there’s pressure.” she showed him the threadbare towel. “Got it?”

He groaned and gripped onto one of the lower shelves behind him. 

Valerie let him compose himself then set to work. Placing the rags was easy enough, but tying the towel that just barely reached around the ghost boy’s torso was tricky. She pulled the cloth tight, earning a pained yelp from her patient, then got the knot set. 

“Ready?” she asked. He glanced down, realizing what she was about to do and squeezed his eyes shut tight. With that, she cinched the knot, pulling the cloth snug. Danny grit his teeth and tensed, clearly holding back a scream. The white ring appeared again around his waist and she shuffled back. It took longer for the ring to fade this time and when it did, Danny was barely able to lift his head. His body sagged against the shelf. 

“Ok, your not in danger of bleeding out anymore. Now you’re gonna tell me what’s up with the white ring, thing.” She stood up and walked over to the spot where she’d left the paper and pens. She fastened a sheet to the clipboard and handed it to him along with a pen. 

He glanced at her for a moment, then took the board and pen and set them on his knees. His hand trembled slightly, but he was still able to write somewhat legibly. 

_ ‘Not a good thing.’ _

“That doesn’t answer my question.” 

He rolled his eyes and thought for a moment, before scribbling something else down. 

_ ‘Happens when I black out.’ _

“Ok, but what is it? What does it do? Produce a shield? Why are you resisting it?”

_ ‘Can’t pass out.’ _

“What? Why?”

_ ‘Die.’ _

“Die? Phantom, you’re already dead. You can’t die twice.”

_ ‘Stranger things have happened.’ _

“Ok you’ve got me there.” she shrugged. “So, if you pass out you die?”

_ ‘Not usually. But with this,’  _ he pointed to the wound,  _ ‘yes.’ _

“Well that’s clear as mud. Do you give any straightforward answers?”

_ ‘Yes.’  _ He looked up and a shadow of a smirk danced across his lips.

“Very funny.” She sighed and leaned back against the shelf next to him. “Why did you push that dragon out of the way?”

_ ‘She’s a friend.’ _

“So you  **are ** friends with ghosts?”

_ ‘HER, yes.’  _ He underlined ‘her’ twice to emphasize his point. Valerie raised a questioning brow.

“What is she your girlfriend or something?”

Danny frantically shook his head and started scribbling ‘ _ nonononononononon-’ _

“Ok, Ok I get it. Chill, ghost boy.” A smile pulled at her lips. “So just a friend, then? How do you even befriend a ghost dragon anyways?”

Danny thought for a moment, resting the end of the pen on his chin. When he seemed to have gathered his thoughts, he started to write again.  _ ‘She only turns into a dragon when she’s upset, or if she chooses to. I just listened to what she had to say. All she wanted was to attend a ball or a dance. I may have turned a blind eye when she snuck into Casper High’s homecoming dance once.’  _ He glanced up at Valerie, gauging her reaction. As she read the gears in her head turned. To his surprise she didn’t get mad at the idea that a ghost had been technically haunting the school dance. 

“It was that easy?” she asked. “Just letting her do whatever she wanted?”

_ ‘What she wanted was harmless.’ _

“Fair enough, I guess. Still creepy though.” she sighed. “So you helped the dragon ghost get what she wanted. Aren’t ghosts supposed to, I don’t know, be at rest once they satisfy their obsessions?”

Danny waved his hand in a ‘somewhat’ motion.  _ ‘I think some ghosts do. I’m not 100% sure, but I think a lot of them have been ghosts for so long they just start obsessing over something else. It’s like a lot of them can’t let go completely or be at peace.’  _ He paused and made a face.  _ ‘Or some just find they enjoy being ghosts and chose to keep existing as they are.’ _

“Makes about as much sense as anything else involving ghosts.” she mumbled. “So, what’s keeping dragon gh-”

_ ‘Dora.’ _

Valerie blinked. “What?”

Danny circled the name. 

“The dragon ghost?”

He nodded and she sighed. 

“Fine. What is Dora obsessing over now?”

_ ‘I helped-’  _ he paused, then scribbled out the ‘I’ and wrote  _ ‘A friend of mine helped her overthrow her evil brother. He was king of their corner of the Ghost Zone and was basically making everyone’s after-life miserable. So she beat him and took over that realm.’  _

“A friend of yours?  **Another ** ghost?” she asked, crossing her arms. 

Danny rolled his eyes.  _ ‘That one’s human. Living. Whatever. Not telling you who.’ _

“There’s a living person who you consider a friend?” 

Danny didn’t answer, remaining totally still. Patiently waiting for her to ask a different question. 

“Fine. I won’t ask.” She fully intended to look into it later though. She had enough documents on Phantom back home. It shouldn’t be too hard to look through the pictures and reports and try to find people who kept popping up at the sightings. The sound of paper rustling and scribbling caught her attention and she looked down at the clipboard. A new piece of paper had been added and a question had been written. 

_ ‘Where did you go?’ _

“What? What do you mean. I’ve been sitting here this whole time.”

_ ‘Earlier. After-’  _ He paused.  _ ‘You shot me, then left. Where did you go? Why did you come back?’ _

That guilty feeling from before rose up again. She glanced over at him, but his eyes remained fixed on the paper. Avoiding her. She wasn’t sure if having him stare her down would have been better or not, but the action still hurt. She pursed her lips.

“You’re lucky I decided to come back at all.” she countered. “What I do in my spare time is none of your concern. I told you, I have other things I have to worry about aside from ghost hunting. The only reason I came back was to see if you’d left a trail. Something to follow so I could track you down and finish you off.” She heard scribbling and looked down. 

_ ‘Liar.’ _

She glared at him, but he didn’t move. “Excuse me!” she stood up, towering over him. “How the hell do you know what I’ve been doing? From the look of it, you’ve been stuck here for the last five hours. You have no idea what’s been going on outside this dank old storage closet.” Before she’d even finished he was writing again. She glanced down. 

_ ‘You didn’t come back to finish me off. If you had, you would have already done it.’ _

She stared at the page in silence for a moment. She couldn’t argue with that. No matter what excuses she came up with in her head, all the usual comments and quips she would normally throw back at him, were undercut by her not having done the deed already. Hell, she’d helped bandage his wound! There was literally nothing in her usual repertoire of comebacks that she could use here. 

Valerie sighed and crossed her arms. “I intended to. Really… mostly…” She shifted on her feet and finally moved to lean against the shelf, looking down on the ghost, but not meeting his eyes. “I was curious, more than anything else, I guess. Never seen you so weak after a fight before. I wanted to know what happened and what kind of data I could get from any residue or trail you might have left behind. And then, when I got here you-” Her eyes flickered up and met his for a brief moment before she looked away. “Damn human sentimentality.” she hissed. “Maybe I’m being stupid here, but… you look… I mean, come on. You may be a ghost, but I can’t just leave you like… like this.” she said, gesturing at Danny with a hand. Danny waited for a moment, then scribbled onto the paper.

_ ‘Why not just finish me off then?’ _

Valerie scoffed. “What do you take me for? I’m not some heartless robot. That’d feel too much like kicking a puppy.” 

_ ‘So, you do care?’  _ Danny wrote.  _ ‘At least a little bit?’  _ His eyes flicked up and caught hers, the faintest of smirks pulling at the corner of his lips.

“I care about not feeling like a jerk, Phantom.” she hissed. “Don’t read too much into it.” 

Danny attempted a huff, remembered too late about the hole in his chest, and groaned when the inevitable pain spiked through his torso. Valerie couldn’t help but wince at the sight. 

“Jeez. How long is this going to go on for?” 

Danny remained unnaturally still for a moment, eyes screwed shut in concentration. When he opened them, he slowly, carefully so as not to pull anything, reached out to write a reply. 

_ ‘Don’t know. Never been run through like this before.’  _

“You are usually a lot better at dodging attacks.” Valerie said, tapping a finger to her chin in thought. She was trying to push back the guilt and think. Wallowing in self pity wasn’t going to help either of them right now. “Guess you were more concerned about getting the dra- uh… Dora, out of the way, huh?”

Danny gave a slight nod in reply. 

“Well, I know you’ve been grazed by my shots before. Not to mention the stingers and electro-pulses. How long do those normally take to ‘heal’?” she asked, using air quotes for the last bit. 

Danny rolled his tired eyes, but started writing all the same. It didn’t escape Valerie’s notice however, that his right hand had begun to shake again and it was taking him a bit longer to write out sentences. 

_ ‘Electricity is tricky. Messes with my ectoplasm a lot in the moment, but doesn’t usually leave damage behind. Could be fr-’ _ he stopped, then scribbled over the last bit before continuing below. _ ‘Anything that cuts into flesh, usually takes a few hours to fade. This punched through organs and bones, though. If I had to guess, it’ll be at least a day, maybe more, before I’m gonna be-’ _ he paused again. 

Valerie watched as his eyes struggled to stay open. His head was beginning to sway and he looked like he might pass out. Right on cue, the white ring from before flickered around his waist. His eyes screwed shut and the ring vanished. This time he didn’t relax immediately afterwards. He stayed like that for a long moment, eyes shut, hands trembling, head swaying slightly. Valerie found herself kneeling down and reaching a hand out. He looked so weak. So frail. 

“Phantom?” she asked, her voice quiet. Her fingertips just barely grazed over his forehead, smoothing out the frustrated lines that had settled there. He was cool to the touch, but not nearly as cold as she recalled him being. Even compared to a few minutes ago, he was a bit warmer, she thought. He leaned into the touch, until she was nearly supporting the weight of his head entirely. Her thumb ghosted over his cheek. Green, faintly glowing eyes fluttered open and looked at her. There were so many emotions behind those eerie, green eyes. Fear. Worry. Loss. Pain. It was too human. Too alive. Right then she decided, she was glad she’d stayed. The thought of this person, ghost or otherwise, going through this alone… it twisted something painfully in her heart. 

He blinked. Then, with what seemed like great effort, he lifted his hand and wrote.

_ ‘I need your help.’ _

Valerie read the words and nodded. “Ok. What do I need to do?” She’d already decided that she wasn’t going to leave him here. She didn’t care about rationalizing it in her head or figuring out the right angle or benefit right then. She wanted to help and that’s what she was going to do. She could parse out everything else later.

What he wrote next, Valerie would have never expected. Her eyes widened and she had to read the words a couple of times to make sure she wasn’t misreading it.

_ ‘Sam Manson & Tucker Foley. They’re friends. They can help me.’ _

“Sam and Tucker? From school? What do they-” 

_ ‘Don’t have time. Need their help. Please please plesz plz plzplzplzpl’  _ From there the words became a scribbled mess, too jumbled to read, but Val seemed to get the idea. 

“Ok. Ok.” She reached out with the hand that wasn’t cradling Danny’s head and stilled his hand. “I’ll call. But I don’t see how those two nerds are going to be of much help. Even the Fentons would make more-” Valerie faltered, thinking aloud. “Hang on… why just Tucker and Sam? Why not Danny? Those two never go anywhere without him and his whole family works with ghosts and stuff. He’d be-” Valerie glanced down and caught a pair of green eyes, boring into hers. They held a look of desperation. Pleading, asking for… something. He reached up and grabbed hold of her free hand, clutching it tightly. 

“Val…” His voice had almost entirely lost its echoing quality, but it sent a chill up her spine all the same. 

She knew that voice. 

She slowly shook her head from side to side, forcing her eyes away from his. “No. Nonono. No I can’t- No.” The words spilled from her lips in a mumbled mess. She pulled her hand from Phantom’s grip, which really was a lot easier than it should have been, and rifled around in one of her pockets. “Focus. Make the call.” she muttered. “Just need to make the call-”

“Val-”

“Shut up!” Valerie hissed, pulling her phone out and scrolling through her contacts. “I am not dealing with this right now. Let’s just call your friend and get you taken care of. Believe me, I’m going to be asking a fuckton of questions later. Is there some sort of codeword you guys use?” This was crazy. This was insane. But she forced herself to keep moving. Keep talking. Just go through the motions. She could freak out later. 

The sound of the pen on the paper reached her ears and she forced herself to look up and read what he’d written. 

_ ‘Tell them I’m hurt.’ _ he paused, then added,  _ ‘Say, “Danny is hurt”. They’ll know it’s serious, coming from you.’ _

She wanted to scream. She wanted to question the words on that damned page and force him to say aloud what her mind was too stubborn to even think of. But she didn’t have time for that. Not right now. She stepped away, hit the call button and held the phone to her ear.

“This is crazy.” he mumbled. “This is ridiculous. This-”

“If you’re calling to check, your dad still hasn’t called yet.” Sam answered. 

“Sam.” Valerie breathed. “Look, I need your help with-”

“Another favor? Really?” Sam asked, annoyance clear in her voice.

Valerie could feel the last strands of her patience snapping. “Sam, this is serious.”

“I’m sure you think it is.” Sam hissed through the phone. 

Valerie’s grip tightened around the device, but she didn’t reply. She needed to calm down. Getting pissed at Sam wasn’t going to get D… Phantom the help he needed. 

“You still there?” Sam asked.

Valerie sucked in a breath and let the words spill from her lips. “Phantom said to call you.” she said. “He... He’s…” she sighed, giving in. “Danny’s hurt.” 

The almost non-existent static of the phone call hung in the air. Neither girl spoke for a long moment. 

“Sam?” Valerie finally asked, once the silence became too uncomfortable. “Did you hear-”

“What the hell did you do?” the girl hissed from the other side of the line. Valerie winced slightly from the venomous tone. She was used to the goth being unfriendly and generally grumpy, but this was something else entirely. 

A rustling sound came over the call and then Tucker’s voice filled the air.

“I’m tracing your signal now.” He said, voice uncharacteristically serious. “Got it. We’ll be there in ten minutes.” 

The rustling sound returned as Sam grabbed the phone back. “If you have even a shred of decency left in you, don’t leave him alone. Keep him awake. And so help me, if we get there and he’s-” she didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to. “Do. Not. Leave him alone. Got it?” Sam ordered. 

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Valerie muttered. 

The line went dead and she put her phone back into her pocket. When she turned, her eyes fell on Phantom… on Danny… He blinked up at her, neon green eyes having nearly stopped glowing entirely. In fact, none of him was glowing. The usual translucence that he and the other ghosts had that made them hard to look at, was gone. She couldn’t recall a time before that she’d seen the ghost boy so solid… so human. If she didn’t know any better, and had just stumbled upon him lying there, she could have mistaken him for just another living human in a jumpsuit. 

Now that she could see his features clearly, she couldn’t unsee the similarities between this ghost and the boy she’d fallen for at school. The same nose. The same face shape. She’d never seen Danny in anything but his loose t-shirt and baggy pants, but the basic physique of the two matched as well. Without that eerie aura around him, she couldn’t deny it. 

She knelt down next to him and reached out a hand. He didn’t even flinch. Gently, she pushed his white hair back and covered up the hairline with her palm. He must have figured out what she was doing, because he purposefully slid his eyes closed, removing the green irises from the equation as well. Without the stark white framing his face and the neon glow of his eyes, recognition welled up within her. 

“Danny.” she breathed. 

His eyes fluttered open and a faint smile pulled at his lips. “Hey Val.” he rasped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do, so love the trope, where enemies are forced to share a small space and start opening up to one another and just... talking. Like... that's my jam. Hoping I get to write more of this kind of stuff for these two as this story goes on.

**Author's Note:**

> \- No telling when I'll be updating this  
\- Mostly keeping this thing around to fuel my little shipping heart every once in a while  
\- No plot planned  
\- Seriously, I don't even know what this is at the moment, but a friend read it and said it was good so I'm posting it  
\- If, for some odd reason, you like my writing and want to chat about this and some of my other fics, come join my Discord group. We've got a nice little community of fans, friends and some quality fic recommendations to share. https://discord.gg/q5vt4WT


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